Hurricane Iniki

Hurricane Iniki is the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. state of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Islands in recorded history. Iniki struck the island of Kauai on September 11 at peak intensity. It had winds of 145 mph (235 km/h), and was a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

Among those on Kauaʻi was filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who was preparing for the final day of on-location shooting of the movie Jurassic Park. He and his 130 cast and crew remained safely in a hotel during Iniki's passage.

Contents

Steven Spielberg was totally surprised by the storm. He switched on the news on the morning of September 11th. "Like in a bad movie," the first shot of the news was a map of Hawaii with the hurricane.

In a 2013 interview with Matt Lauer, Sam Neill said he was standing on the beach that day with Laura Dern. Laura asked, "do you think we're gonna be alright, Sam?" Sam responded: "I think we might die, Laura." She laughed.[1]

The helicopter pilot that rescued the cast and crew from Hurricane Iniki was Fred Sorenson, whose sole movie role was that of Jock, the seaplane pilot who rescues Indiana Jones at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.[2]